IV Medicine: A Functional Approach to Optimal Health
IVs are traditionally associated with illness, but what if they could unlock the key to well-being instead? In functional medicine, intravenous (IV) medicine can help supplement nutritional deficiencies, hydrate the body, and support wellness among many different types of patients, ranging from high-performance athletes to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Also known as IV therapy, this technique can deliver water and nutrients directly into your veins, allowing it to enter your bloodstream more quickly than oral medications. It can then reach your organs faster, providing essential nutrition to support your health.
Read on to learn more about IV therapy and how this functional medicine treatment may be useful to you.
Benefits of IV Therapy
Functional medicine practitioners use IV therapy to deliver important nutrients directly to their patient’s bloodstream, where it can enter the circulatory system, and reach organs faster. By using an IV instead of a pill or capsule, nutrients bypass the stomach and intestines to start delivering benefits more quickly.
Some of the benefits of IV therapy include:
Improved absorption and bioavailability
Bioavailability is the amount of a substance that enters your body’s bloodstream after digestion. Because IV medicine is delivered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. This means greater nutrients reach your body, and the absorption is also faster because they enter your bloodstream directly.
Faster and more effective results
IV therapy allows practitioners to rapidly deliver nutrient support to their patients. The ability to inject nutrients into the bloodstream allows them to affect the body sooner while also boosting their overall benefits.
Customized nutrient combinations
Rather than balance many different supplements at once, IV therapy is a single-dose technique of a customized nutrient blend optimized for your health. The practitioner will choose which nutrients you need after a careful analysis, and ensure that you get the right dose of each one during your treatment.
With this mode of delivery, IV therapy can be used to rapidly increase hydration, treat vitamin deficiencies, and target specific symptoms, like chronic pain and inflammation.
Common Nutrients Used in IV Therapy
Nutritional therapy through IV medicine is a common practice in functional medicine. It helps treat a variety of symptoms caused by vitamin deficiency, such as chronic fatigue, low mood, and inflammation.
A Meyers’ Cocktail is one of the most common IV therapy blends; it combines essential B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and the super antioxidant glutathione into a saline solution.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these ingredients in-depth:
B Vitamins
There are eight essential B vitamins that the body has to acquire through a healthy diet. As a result, many people find themselves deficient in one or more of the B vitamins, often grouped together and called the B-complex.
B vitamins are also commonly referred to as other names, so you may be familiar with some of these if you’ve read the nutritional labels on food packaging.
The eight B vitamins your body needs to stay healthy and perform well are:
Thiamin (B1)
Riboflavin (B2)
Niacin (B3)
Pantothenic Acid (B5)
Pyridoxine (B6)
Biotin (B7)
Folate/folic acid (B9)
Cobalamin (B12)
B vitamins support many different physiological processes, including breaking down carbohydrates into energy, supporting healthy oxygen transportation, and helping cells carry nutrients throughout the body.
They also play an active role in strengthening your skin, hair, eyes, and gut. Many of the symptoms people seek out functional medicine for can be attributed to low levels of B vitamins in their body.
Vitamin C
The immune-system-boosting vitamin C also helps your body produce collagen, the protein that supports elasticity throughout the skin and other connective tissues. Getting enough vitamin C can also ensure your body is able to fight off illness, heal from sickness more quickly, and repair wounds faster.
Magnesium
Magnesium is a critical nutrient for people of all ages; it supports many vital functions ranging from stabilizing blood sugar levels, to helping your body make DNA, protein, and bone.
Without enough magnesium, you are more prone to experiencing symptoms such as a loss of appetite, muscle cramps, and numbness and tingling from nerve dysfunction.
Glutathione
Your body naturally produces a powerful antioxidant called glutathione, but supplementing it through IV therapy may help improve immunity, ward off disease, slow the progression of cancer, and even improve insulin sensitivity.
Glutathione is present in every cell throughout your body, and it is unique in that it's able to be produced in the liver.
In addition to improving your overall health, glutathione also plays many vital roles throughout your body, such as breaking down harmful free radicals and building DNA.
Some people are born with a condition called glutathione synthetase, meaning their body is unable to produce enough glutathione by itself. IV therapy could be a good way to restore their body’s balance and give them the essential support they need.
Who Can Benefit From IV Therapy?
Many people are discovering the benefits of IV medicine, and you may see it becoming mainstream in some cities. IV therapy clinics have been opening across the U.S., offering rapid hydration and on-the-go nutrition boosts.
Some of the best candidates for IV therapy include athletes, people with chronic health conditions, and individuals currently undergoing cancer treatment. Because all of these people tend to have specialized nutritional needs, having personalized nutrient supplements administered through an IV can support their greatest health and wellness.
How to Prepare for IV Therapy
If you are planning to receive IV therapy, there are a few things you can do to make sure your session has the greatest benefits to your health.
For one, make sure to stay hydrated leading up to your appointment. Increase your water intake 24 hours prior to your IV therapy session; it’s helpful to follow minimum hydration guidelines, which range from 2.7 to 3.7 liters per day depending on your sex.
Athletes may need to increase their daily hydration as they lose more fluids through exercise and sports.
You should also take care to avoid alcohol and caffeine before the session, as both of these dehydrate the body.
It’s also helpful to eat a healthy meal beforehand, which can help stabilize your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Getting IV therapy on an empty stomach could lead to dizziness.
What to Expect During IV Therapy
The entire process is meant to be relaxing, and your practitioner will do everything they can to ensure you are as comfortable as possible. There will be a pre-treatment assessment prior to your IV insertion, which includes checking your vitals to make sure you can safely get an IV.
The insertion process is quick and easy. The nurse or doctor will clean your skin with an alcohol pad, then insert the line.
Infusion takes around 30 minutes to an hour. During that time, you won’t feel anything; sit back, relax, and enjoy some time to yourself!
Conclusion
IV medicine is a personalized treatment that can support your best health and wellness. Nutrient combinations and dosages are customized to suit your needs based on a practitioner’s assessment.
Trying IV therapy may be beneficial for anyone who is living with a chronic illness, athletes, people currently battling cancer, and people who have vitamin deficiencies.
At Holistic Health Code we specialize in IV therapy and advocate for its significant list of health benefits - schedule an appointment with us, or consider a free consult to learn more about our services.